Eco Company Teens

Infrared technology, 3D imaging! These are just two ways NASA helps us understand our planet! Especially when it comes to greenhouse gases, and one of them we don't hear much about. Adam brings us the scoop from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory!

These girls are participating in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Young Women In Science program. They get their sea legs and head out on the Monterey Bay where they are tracking down trash. Jessica put on her life jacket to join them and see what it is all about.

The second largest wetland restoration project in the U.S. is located along the San Francisco Bay. For decades a salt company used the natural area for solar salt production. What remains is an eco-wasteland. We meet a group of teens who are helping to remove unwanted vegetation and plant seedlings natural to the habitat.

There's something very interesting taking place at the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute. We're talking DNA from thousands of years ago extracted from permafrost!! We get the scoop on the latest studies with implications on climate change!

The Marine Mammal Center in Northern California rescues seals, sea lions, porpoises and other injured or sick mammals. Thanks to the dedication of hundreds of volunteers, they are healed, cured, rehabbed and returned to their native habitat.

Brendan visits a High School in San Francisco where he finds students on campus AFTER SCHOOL! They are building a three-phase compost bin...from scratch. It's a good way to build a compost bin of your own.

They call themselves the Creek Geeks, They're students from Loma Linda High School in Sacramento, CA, and they are the force behind the Arcade Creek Project. They do it all...habitat restoration, vertebrate (bird) cataloging, creek mapping, and biological assessment. It's all in a day’s work for this crew.

What is ocean salinity and what does it mean to marine ecology. This Eco-Lingo byte may help us understand.

Household toxins...paints, aerosols, pesticides, insecticides, household cleaners, batteries, CFLs...many with dangerous carcinogens. How do we get rid of them so they don't get into the environment and into our water supplies. Adam visits a hazardous waste facility to get answers.

Know the Eco-Lingo. What's Ocean Acidification and what does it have to do with climate change?

We visit a Berkley Livermore Lab where they are researching the efficiency of cooking stoves, those using wood and coal, that are utilized by over 3 billion people world-wide to prepare 3 meals a day. It will give you a great appreciation of why this is so important.

Redwood trees go back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Some of them can live more than 3,000 years! Some of them grow to more than 25 stories tall! Is climate change affecting them too? Jalena talks to biodiversity scientist Dr. Healy Hamilton to see what the future holds.

Meet Gerty! A Volkswagen Super Beetle. But she's no ordinary bug. The Bheda family turned Gerty into an electric car! It was a project that involved the whole family. Jalena got the story...and a ride!

It may look clean, but cotton has a big footprint in the world. Cotton growers use 11 percent of the world's pesticides and it takes more than 700 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make just one T-shirt. But some farmers are doing things differently. Jordan heads out to the fields to find out how.

Jordan gets the choice assignment checking out a museum that houses over a million bugs, insects and invertebrates (yeah right)! She not only gets to hold a very large Walking Stick! She learns how climate change affects the insect world!

Geothermal energy...photosynthesis...sounds like work for scientists, right? These scientists are teens and they're learning about renewable energy and more as part of the Berkeley Lab Internship Program.

Jordan climbs on board the Kitty Kat, a boat on a mission to the Farallon Islands off the coast of California. The trip has the special purpose of returning seven sea lions to the ocean in a protected sanctuary, but also provides the opportunity to do some whale watching!

Taylor Francis is a teen committed to stopping global warming within his lifetime and he's taking his message to students and adults around the globe! On a resent trip to China he spoke with students and learned that his counterparts in the world’s largest country are definitely onboard!

Adam pays a visit to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation where scientists conduct research about plastic in the Earth's oceans. Sailing on the foundation's 50 foot catamaran, the researchers have traveled around the globe to trawl for plastic in the 5 major gyres where plastic debris gathers. What they find will shock you.

SURF’S UP!! Surfing is very popular along the West Coast. But have you ever thought about the materials use in making surfboards? Jessica finds one guy who not only gave it some thought, but began making surfboards with non-toxic and sustainable materials.

Jordan finds a store run by the non-profit Teens Turning Green. From cosmetics, to school supplies, to furnishing your bedroom, everything in this store is good for you and good for the planet.

A visit to nature's classroom! It's a trip to the local river where high school students become the teachers working with 4th graders, and the subject matter is river ecology. The student teachers plan the lessons and the fourth grade students learn with hands on experience.

Brendan travels to the University of California at Davis to visit a wind energy lab! There researchers and students are working to improve the efficiency of wind turbines. They study how wind travels over the blades in a high speed wind tunnel!

The Athenian School in Danville, CA, is a place where students and teachers alike are doing their part to help the planet, from making bio-diesel fuel from discarded restaurant grease to run the school buses to the organic garden and the solar farm on the school grounds, this school is doing it right.

Eco Company takes a trip to the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA. Its a sustainable living community that grows their own organic foods, builds their own buildings out of cob, has their own biodiesel station and powers everything with solar energy.